


The End of the Line

by Amymone



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series), Karate Kid (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, I have no idea what I'm doing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:34:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29404173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amymone/pseuds/Amymone
Summary: Daniel was fifteen when he met Johnny and he didn’t feel the haul. He couldn’t tell if the other boy felt anything, most probably not, because he almost immediately called him a punk and then proceeded to beat the shit out of him. Even the slightest notion of the haul would have made him to at least hesitate, right?An AU where your true form is only revealed once in your life when you fulfill your bond with your soulmate.
Relationships: Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence
Comments: 22
Kudos: 76





	The End of the Line

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dedlit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dedlit/gifts).



> For dedlit, my karate soulmate. And with many thanks to lostmagician!
> 
> Inspired by the Greek myth of Zeus and Semele, the mother of Dionysus.

Daniel was fifteen when he met Johnny and he didn’t feel the haul. He couldn’t tell if the other boy felt anything, most probably not, because he almost immediately called him a punk and then proceeded to beat the shit out of him.

I mean, even the slightest notion of the haul would have made him to at least hesitate, right?

But Johnny didn’t hesitate then, and he didn’t hesitate when he pushed him of a cliff (or hill, whatever, he was still sore and bloody in the end), or when he and his buddies tore him a new one on Halloween.

He didn’t seem to hesitate when he finished the job Bobby had started on his knee, either.

And when Daniel delivered that kick to Johnny’s face, he didn’t feel a sliver of regret, an ounce of sympathy.

In fact, Daniel didn’t feel anything, nothing, not a single little sensation even remotely close to the haul during all of his encounters with Johnny.

He hadn’t been actively trying to find his soulmate. He was still so young but he had heard about many of his classmates going to seminars or doing special techniques in order to be able to better recognize the haul but he just thought all that was a waste of time. When the time came, he could tell immediately.

Right?

He remembered asking his mother about it at some point, when they were living back in Newark. His dad had been dead for a year. His ma had been planning to talk to him about it at some point herself. It was the obligatory parental talk along with the birds and bees.

“What does it feel like? The haul.” Daniel had asked.

“How can I describe it, sweetie? It’s not easy.” His mother had said. “It’s like an itching sensation at first, when you are around your soulmate. You can feel it under your fingertips. And then it grows stronger. It spreads to your whole body and you just feel the need to break free from the confinements of your regular husk.”

“To shed your own skin.”

Daniel had swallowed hard and asked again. “And the uncovering? What did that feel like?”

His mother had shaken her head, a sad smile on her lips. “I can’t possibly describe that, Daniel.”

Daniel had stayed silent for a long moment, processing all that newfound information. He then had asked his mother the question that was really burning inside his mind.

“Do you remember it? Dad’s true form?”

Lucille had looked at him straight in the eyes and Daniel could see the wetness that was swelling in her blue orbs.

“If it weren’t for the pictures of him, I would have forgotten his regular one.”

Daniel hadn’t said anything more, he had just nodded, secretly hoping he would feel that way soon.

Then the move to California came. Daniel had acted like he hated it but the truth is he had mixed feelings about it. Like he had wished that there was something more to this nagging urge at the back of his mind that was drawing him across the country in his mother beat-up car. But when they had arrived to that sunny and smoggy garden of Eden, only disappointment was waiting for him there.

Ali was definitely not his soulmate. She was cute though. And smart and funny and she was willing to put up with him. At fifteen that’s more you can hope for.

After the All Valley, when everything seemed to be finally over, Johnny and he were kind of tolerating each other. He wasn’t experiencing that feeling of complete dread whenever Johnny and his little gang of cobras were in his vicinity.

There was, however, a chill at the back of his neck that kept him on his toes, whenever he could sense Johnny approaching him.

Maybe Daniel should have attended those find your soulmate seminars, after all.

Mr. Miyagi had met his soulmate at a very young age. But she had died giving birth to their son at a relocation center. His son hadn’t made it either.

When he was back in Okinawa, life had thrown at him all the obstacles he could think of in order to get him to leave that place. Even a fight to the death. Because that’s how the world worked. It nudged you in the right direction. Everyone knew that. Daniel thought that, in Mr. Miyagi’s case, to quote his nemesis, the world should have left things well enough alone.

Still, there were those few souls that were never completed. Everyone knew somebody who knew somebody who knew another one who had died without ever finding their soulmate.

So, Daniel had voiced his concerns to Mr. Miyagi. The man was his only friend, and as sad as that sounded, Daniel was grateful for him.

“How will I know?” Daniel had asked him.

“When time comes. You know.” Mr. Miyagi had replied in his infinite wisdom.

Graduation came and he had to sit next to Johnny at their ceremony. A lot of their classmates were starting to pair up, bonding for life and Daniel, newly single and heartbroken, was feeling alone and lost. And even if he could feel the heat of Johnny’s body, emanating beside him while sitting on the white, plastic chairs as they were listening to the boring valedictorian speech, he didn’t feel the haul.

He didn’t see Johnny again for thirty-four years.

Hadn’t met his soulmate either.

A lot of people had come and gone into Daniel’s life ever since.

When he met Amanda he thought, or most likely, he tried to convince himself that he felt something like the haul but Amanda made it perfectly clear that there was nothing like that between them.

Didn’t stop them from getting married and having two wonderful children together.

They even started their own business, a thriving auto empire in the Valley, fueled by Danny’s charm and Mandy’s pragmatic mind.

But as the years rolled by, Daniel started wondering what it would have felt like.

When Mr. Miyagi died, Daniel had felt so broken, so alone, so terrified. He was getting harder and harder to live with.

Amanda left him at some point. She actually found her own soulmate and the haul was irresistible. Who could have blamed her, really? All the passion in their marriage had drained out long before that.

As a last act, Daniel even attended a bunch of those stupid find your soulmate workshops. They were getting more and more creative over the years. They had evolved into this whole new industry, cashing in on people’s desperation.

Daniel spent three thousand dollars to basically rehash the same things:

At some point in your life, usually early on, you meet your soulmate. Almost immediately you experience this sensation that was dubbed the _haul_ during the late nineteenth century and when you are both ready you transform into your true forms, for once in your lives, together. This is called the uncovering. Afterwards, you go back to your regular forms.

But you are bonded forever.

But still, Daniel pretty much knew all that. What he didn’t know was why he has getting close to middle age, and he hadn’t even come _close_ to finding his soulmate.

Amanda told him he was getting depressed.

And he might have been inclined to agree with her, when one slow day at the dealership he spotted an all too familiar golden head.

Daniel was fifty years old when he met Johnny again and he might have felt something but it couldn’t have been described as the haul.

At first it was like it hadn’t passed a day. Their old rivalry was there; they acted like petty jerks to each other, both unwilling to just let go of the past.

The only good thing, Daniel foolishly thought, that came out of his reunion with Johnny Lawrence was that he got involved with karate again. God knows how much he had missed it.

For a second in history, they tried to get along. No. Not tried, they didn’t actively try anything. It kind of came naturally.

And then Daniel was being shoved hard against his trophy stand by that lunatic. How could he have ever thought they could be friends?

They fought and did horrible things to each other and took their rivalry to the All Valley tournament where they hung strings on their students’ shoulders and made them do their little dance.

They sabotaged each other and they hit each other where it hurt the most and then, someday, in some fucked up way, they ended up in Johnny’s apartment, bending over the kitchen counter, drunk, flustered and sweaty, with Daniel's cock in Johnny’s ass.

Daniel didn’t want to put much thought into it. They were both really lonely, there was some tension, it happened.

They were both assholes about it; never addressing the situation between them, so it mostly could have been described as some random fucks here and there.

Daniel most definitely wasn’t feeling the haul but some nights he was finding it more and more difficult to resist getting out of his bed, driving all the way to Johnny’s crappy Reseda apartment.

But life got in the way again, and everything else fades into the background when your student and son of your arch enemy/fuck buddy is kicking that said arch enemy/fuck buddy’s own student over a railing.

It was all pretty fucked up.

And Daniel might have felt something in that hospital elevator but it was muddled with images of Sam’s scarred arms.

Next thing Daniel knew, they were teaming up, a stupid karate version of Tango and Cash, trying to find Robby and helping him with his troubles with the law. Eventually they managed to do that; Daniel's lawyers got him off the hook. 

But during their wild car chase day, and despite how totally inappropriate it was, they ended up going at it again in the back of Daniel's car, both devastated and touch starved. The urgency was so palpable that surpassed all other feelings.

By the time some things had returned to normalcy (Robby out of juvie, Miguel walking again), their kids were being attacked left and right and even if it was getting more and more imperative for Daniel to feel Johnny’s warm presence at his side, the first thing they needed to focus on was their safety. And theirs.

When Daniel saw Johnny with Kreese’s ugly hands around his neck he didn’t feel anything except blinding rage and the need to tear himself apart, to transform into something that could have taken down that maniac once and for all and thrown him out of their lives forever.

To shed his own skin.

He lashed out, there was broken glass everywhere, Miyagi’s pressure points, the look of almost fear on Kreese’s face.

And then Johnny emerged again from the dojo, very much alive and he looked at him. He looked at him and he nodded and he smiled to him and that was all the confirmation Daniel needed, Johnny was all the confirmation Daniel needed and he was getting ready to strike when he felt it, his eyes still glued on Johnny’s face.

It was like all blood was drained out of their bodies.

Because the time had come. And he knew.

Everything was forgotten. Kreese was forgotten, Cobra Kai was forgotten, the fucking fight was forgotten. Time stood still and the world stopped spinning for a whole second as they stared into each other’s eyes and let the realization wash over them.

And then Sam was shouting at him and the spell was broken.

Because even beyond the idea of soulmates, even beyond the utopian concept of your true form, it was the image of his own child, watching him, pleading with him, Miguel and Robby by her side.

So, Sam’s voice had snapped him out of it. Out of everything.

“You keep your Cobra Kais away from our kids.” Daniel told Kreese and then he witnessed Johnny making some kind of twisted deal with Kreese revolving around the next tournament.

“We won’t lose. Not now.” Johnny said, looking at Daniel and Daniel shivered.

But, afterwards, Johnny took off. He didn’t even give Daniel a chance to talk to him. All of Daniel’s calls went through voice mail.

When Daniel made sure that the kids were safe, he wanted to go look for him when he heard his phone ringing. It was a unfamiliar number.

He picked it up and heard a soft voice. It was Bobby Brown, Johnny's friend. He wanted to meet him.

When they met, at Daniel's apartment building parking lot, Bobby went straight to the point.

“Johnny called me, probably on his way to getting drunk and he had a fifteen-minute rant about you.”

Daniel didn't know what to answer to that, but Bobby continued almost immediately.

“You felt the haul, didn’t you?”

Daniel's eyes widened for a second and he nodded. And then everything sort of poured out of him. He told Bobby everything and at the end he was left with more burning questions.

“I-I still can’t wrap my head around it. How is it even possible? To feel the haul so late in our lives? Especially when we’ve known each other since our teenage years.”

“It is extremely rare. But it happens. You think it was a coincidence you two met again after all those years?”

“But why? Why? Why hadn't we felt something before?”

“Because of the enormity.”

Daniel raised his eyebrow at that and Bobby shook his head.

“No, listen. That’s how it was, presumably, for all the big ones. Mark Antony and Cleopatra, Bonnie and Clyde, all that shit. Sometimes the uncovering is so intense, it's not a guarantee that everyone will survive it. Especially, if they are not ready.”

“Okay." Daniel said. "But I’m not Cleopatra in this scenario.”

Bobby snickered. “He’s a full-tilt diva, I’ll give you that.”

“Plus, couldn’t you pick one with a happy ending?”

“Maybe you guys will be the first ones.”

But then Bobby sighed and he looked at Daniel with something that resembled regret. “I should have seen it, Daniel. I should have helped you. I’m so sorry.”

“How could you? When we didn’t even figure it out for ourselves.”

“You had your heads stuck up your asses, that's for sure.”

Daniel laughed at that. But then he remembered something and he frowned.

“I-I have to tell you something.”

“Johnny told me that you have been fooling around, if that’s what you mean.”

Daniel nodded. “How is it possible that we even did _that_ and still not realize it?”

“Didn’t you feel anything? Like something out of the ordinary when you were with Johnny?”

“I felt like it was the best sex I’ve ever had.”

“Possibly too much information here. But yeah, there’s your answer.”

Bobby shrugged. “Listen, I may be wrong about all of this. A case like yours is so remotely unique. We can’t fathom to make complete sense out of it.”

“My best guess is you needed a profound moment to open your minds and your bodies to it.”

Daniel dwelt on that for a moment.

“You think that subconsciously we repressed this because we weren’t sure if we were soulmates?”

Bobby shook his head again. “No, I think you’ve always known. I think you subconsciously repressed it because your bodies sensed the enormity and you were afraid you couldn’t handle it. Frankly, I don’t think you could have. Not at sixteen, anyway.”

“Self-preservation, Daniel. The number one human instinct.”

Daniel looked at him for a moment longer and then he stood up.

“What will you do?” Bobby asked him.

“I’m going to find him.”

It wasn't hard.

He used the find my phone app he had installed on Johnny's phone while pretending to help him with an update. He took one look at it and realized Johnny had gone to Miyagi-Do. Of course.

He found him sitting on the ground, his back against the wooden wall, staring at the garden, a bottle of whiskey in his hand. When he spotted Daniel, he got to his feet abruptly and glared at him.

“Did you know?” Johnny pointed an accusatory finger at him.

Daniel shook his head and Johnny's anger subsided immediately. He just stood there glancing back at him, looking lost and unsure.

Daniel wanted to hug him and comfort him and reassure him that everything was as it should be. His control-freak mind couldn’t let it go, though. He wanted to go through every moment of their shared history, discuss every tiny detail that could have possible lead to this but with every tentative step he took towards Johnny, all mood for talking was leaving him. The sensation was so strong. He felt ready to burst, to unfold himself from this form and plunge into his true one.

He was uncontrollably feeling the haul. And it was beautiful.

He raised his arm towards Johnny and opened his palm, his fingers outstretched.

“Do you-do you feel this?”

“Yes.” Johnny said and his eyes filled with tears.

Daniel was by his side in an instant. He didn’t dare touch him yet, though.

“All this time. God, all this fucking time, Daniel—"

“Hey, hey. Don’t cry. We’re here now.”

“I told myself it doesn’t matter. I convinced myself it was all some pussy-ass shit.”

“Shh-- I’m here. We are here. Together.”

Johnny tried to smile at that and wiped his cheeks.

“I can’t hold it in anymore, John. I don’t _want_ to hold it, anymore.”

Johnny nodded at him, affection and awe written on his features.

Daniel closed the last inch between them, put a hand on the back of his neck and dragged him as close as humanly possible to his body, crashing their lips together. Because the only way Daniel was finally having this was with Johnny’s tongue in his mouth.

Johnny’s palm found his and they hold each other, while slowly they began to change.

And maybe it looked like a thousand bolts of lightning. Or like a surge of pure energy. Or like something else entirely that couldn’t in any way be described with words as they walked together into eternity.

**Author's Note:**

> So. I have no idea about soulmates AUs. I’ve probably read just two or three fics and all of them in this fandom. I also have no idea if this version of soulmates is a valid thing. Did some research, didn’t find it anywhere but wrote it, anyway. It’s probably been done before, though, and I never thought I’d write something like this but here we are. Tell me what you think!


End file.
